


Stars Young and Cold: Families Found

by Bragi151



Series: We Are All Stardust [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Spoilers, Gen, Panic Attacks, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-07-11 01:32:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7020049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bragi151/pseuds/Bragi151
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony Stark has done much in the aftermath of the Civil War, especially for the Bartons and the Lang/Paxtons. Sure, the Three Furies and their minions (and kids) run his life, but that was to be expected after grabbing up two very competent women. But as much as Tony Stark has done, he hasn't done very much for himself. Thanks to one particular Fury, who definitely doesn't wear an eye patch, that's going to change. That and the Three Stooges.</p><p>Or</p><p>The Formation of the Stark Scouts</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stars Young and Cold: Families Found

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Irreparable](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6838501) by [aslightstep](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aslightstep/pseuds/aslightstep). 



> Second in the We are all Stardust (or the Sagan Series). I tried to make this one as readable as possible if you hadn't touched the first one, but I recommend it for additional context.
> 
> If you haven't noticed, names of all the fics (so far) are related to particular celestial bodies. Also, I fully admit that the idea of Donnie Gill showing up on Tony's doorstep is stolen with much flattery from aslightstep, the fic in question is linked as an inspiration to this one. Because it is. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy the fic :D
> 
> Also: Posted early because happy birthday Tony!
> 
> See end notes for warnings.

Life, Tony reflected sedately, was a very twisty lifey wifey ball of suck. Tony had expected things to calm down after he had assuaged his conscience and cleaned up the messes left behind by overly emotional superheroes who appeared terminally incapable of thinking of the consequences of their actions, in the form of keeping Ross’s very slimy hands off of Lang’s and Barton’s families. And, while Tony’s life at the hands of his Three Furies, Laura Barton/Bowman, Maggie Lang, and Pepper Potts, had been nothing but smooth in the aftermath of the war he had waged with Steve Rogers over the Sokovia accords, Tony had to admit he wasn’t quite dealing with everything the way that he necessarily should be. Sleeping in the newly renovated Compound meant that the newly installed FRIDAY wasn’t able to snitch about his nightmares or panic attacks to the Unholy Trinity as often. It also meant, though, that Paxton was keeping an eye on him and reporting everything back to his lady and mistress, Tisiphone Fury of Avenging Murder, torturer of the damned. AKA, Maggie Lang. If Laura Barton/Bowman rode him to take care of himself and everything else besides, Maggie Lang made sure Tony’s feet stayed firmly planted on the good earth.

Where Laura used her kids to force Tony to be a Responsible Human Being™, Maggie frequently forced him to do his work for the Ho Yinsen Academy that had been set up by him as her stipulation for uprooting herself to the East Coast with her husband and child. She was essentially the principal of the institution, but he was still apparently the Chairman. She forced him to look at the reality that he had kids in the tower, that their lives needed to be on the up and up, and that he had to confront his feelings, both about the fact that there were _kids everywhere_ and that he was a human being with actual emotions who was suffering from some very unfortunate spates of _stuff_.

Paxton was her enforcer.

Tony regretted getting them jobs already.

Okay, that wasn’t true, but still.

The nightmares and panic attacks had gotten less problematic since the two families had moved into the tower and kids had started becoming a part of his daily life. He wasn’t quite sure how he felt about “Uncle Tony” status, either from the Barton Brood or from little Cassie Lang, but he couldn’t resist the power of the doe eyes, so he had decided to shut up about it and teach them the wonders of science. Parents, it turned out, were not happy when lab explosions resulted in their children being covered head to toe in completely non-toxic completely edible red goo. Tony still got to be the Cool Uncle, though, so it was worth it.

The Parker kid had also been coming by more, still just as snarky and eager to please, but some of the star shine seemed to be fading, which was a good thing, in Tony’s opinion. He had been oddly brotherly to the tykes, especially when they were all over at the Compound some nights. Peter kept his mask up, though, especially since T’Challa was a little shutterbug.

Tony knew quite well where those photos were going, but Tony had gotten nothing from Rogers, and Tony certainly wasn’t going to call the man baring life at large going even more pear shaped than it already was. Tony did hope, though, that Barton and Lang got some measure of peace from knowing that their families were safe.

But, still, Tony’s life felt like it had turned into some sort of Brady Bunch Episode, all wholesome family interaction. And between Harley and Peter and all the younger kids, Tony almost felt weirdly like some crazy type of family patriarch. The thought gave him hives, but it was what it was. Or at least, that was what he told himself as he stared up at the ceiling because he couldn’t sleep without feeling the chill of Siberia, hear Roger’s shield crash into his heart, or taste his blood in his mouth.

Tony sighed and resolved to go work it off in the workshop, getting out of bed and putting on something more substantial than his birthday suit.

“Burning the midnight oil, Boss?” FRIDAY asked, her voice filled with concern. While just as snarky as JARVIS had been, most days, she was far more open with her other emotions. Tony wondered, idly, if that was Pepper’s influence.

“Can’t sleep. Hopefully getting some work done will put my brain to bed.” Tony replied.

FRIDAY let out an audible sigh, “What should we work on tonight, then? Maybe a BARF simulation would help you get through things?”

Tony paused. He knew that if he didn’t take FRIDAY up on her offer, she would be snitching to the Unholy Trinity in the morning. Hell, she would probably do that regardless, little well-meaning rat that she was. Tony nodded, though, and turned to the simulation room rather than the shiny new workshop. Tony slipped on the BARF interface, “Take it away, gal FRIDAY.”

“Sure thing, Boss. Initiating ‘Brain Playlist Alpha.’” FRIDAY said, her voice soft.

Slowly, the room reoriented itself, his memories playing out for him, spinning through various images as he watched himself struggle through Afghanistan, mourn his mother, kill Obie, battle the Mandarin, meet Rhodey for the first time, fight with Rogers, convince Pepper to come work for him, recoil as his father backhanded him, watch Rhodey drag him to bed after a hard night drinking in MIT, watch Sokovia rise into the air, watch Pepper sleeping in the bed beside him.

At some point, he closed his eyes. Originally, BARF hadn’t been meant to be worn during sleep, but Tony had been working on the system, and had tweaked it enough to the point where it could continue therapy through dreams, working on old memories and subconscious fears rather than just working on filing RAM away to long term storage. He managed three hours before FRIDAY jolted him awake.

“Boss!” FRIDAY usually wouldn’t wake him unless it was an emergency, which meant that Rhodey and Vision were being alerted as well.

“Talk to me, baby girl,” Tony said, swinging to his feet and ripping the BARF interface from his head.

“There’s a young man outside the compound. He’s insisting on talking to you.” FRIDAY relayed.

Tony blinked but didn’t slow down, “Uh. There a reason you aren’t escorting him off the property with drones?”

“He froze them, Boss. Solid.” FRIDAY’s voice was all snark, that time.

Tony paused for a moment, “How are we coming with the new suit?”

“Less than 50%, Boss. It’s taking a while for the fabricators to work the adamantium.” FRIDAY was apologetic.

Tony frowned, almost to the front door, “We built them _specifically_ for adamantium! What do you mean it’s taking a while?”

“Exactly what I said, Boss.” FRIDAY says, the snark suspiciously absent from her voice, which meant she was just learning deadpan.

Tony let out a deep breath. “Vision en route?”

“I am here, Anthony,” Vision says, melding through a wall. Tony had long since gotten used to that particular habit of Vision’s, which Vision had, strangely, been nonplused by. Apparently Rogers and Wanda had expected the synthoid with a gem of cosmic power stuck in his forehead to use doors.

“Alright, let’s see what cold teen angst we’re dealing with today,” Tony said as he stepped outside, Vision behind him. What Tony saw, though, was not what he had expected. Tony thought he would be seeing a punk with a vendetta, maybe some supped up nitrogen based freezing technology.

What he saw was a shaking young man, hair a fuzzy rat’s nest, eyes wide with fear, cheeks gaunt and rags hanging off of what was essentially bone with a spattering of flesh and skin attached.

“Help me,” he gasped out before collapsing into Tony’s arms.

* * *

 

Tony did not like sitting by the bedsides of people. He had done it with Jarvis, the human, when the old man, more of a father to him than Obie and Howard put together, finally couldn’t fight time any more than he already had. He had done it with Aunt Peggy, more times than he could count, over the years, watching as she slipped slowly into forgetfulness and oblivion, and the fact that he couldn’t be there for her, couldn’t go to her funeral, burned more than he cared to admit.

He had done it, strangely, for Sharon Carter, his cousin of sorts, after she had gotten injured field training and her own estranged parents couldn’t be there for her, but he could be. And he had known all about Sharon’s little powwows with Steve, and Sharon no doubt knew that he knew, but he would let that slide from her. It was the least he could do for his only living link to Peggy.

More recently had been Happy, comatose and then bringing himself back after investigating something he had no business sticking his nose in, but the man’s heart was always true, Tony had to give him that. Pepper, too, after recovering, mostly, from Extremis. She had kept a bunch of “extras” that would do wonders for keeping her safe, something she had frowned about, but accepted, ever the pragmatist. There was Rhodey, the man who had held Tony’s soul in his hands since Tony had been fourteen, his compass, his north star. Crippled for Tony’s sins.

And now there was a young man, IVs running basic nutrition and hydration into his beleaguered body. Someone who had begged for Tony’s help, without Tony knowing the least bit of what to do, or who he even was. How was this his _life_?

A gentle hand on his shoulder eased Tony back from his thoughts, “FRIDAY said you’d had an interesting night.” Maggie Lang’s voice was just as soft as her touch. Tony was surprised she was awake at – Tony’s brain sputtered – at whatever time in the morning or night it was.

Tony chuckled, the only humor in it dark like the coffee he sorely needed, “That’s one way to put it. I’m practically collecting kids, at this point. Any idea who he is?”

Maggie nodded, her hand still grounding Tony at his shoulder, “Donald Gill, but prefers Donnie. FRIDAY ran facial recognition while you were,” Maggie’s face scrunched up and she sent a look at Tony that he knew meant there would be a reckoning later, “zoned out. Former SHIELD cadet. Bright. One of the bright _est_ , actually.”

Tony blinked, “What happened to him?”

Maggie sighed, “He was involved in some shady dealings at the SHIELD academy. A team sussed him out, and then he went away for it. From there things get a little more confusing. FRIDAY said she detected traces of him in the HYDRA files that were dumped. He was victim to some brain washing. He has some powers relating to ice, which they wanted to get their hands on.”

Tony nodded, “Standard HYDRA. So he’s filled up to the gills with triggers.” Tony blinked, thinking back to the night before, “Maybe BARF will be able to help deprogram him. We’ll have to see.”

Maggie nodded, squeezing his shoulder briefly before taking her hand back, “You should get some rest, Tony.”

“I still have-”

Maggie’s eyes narrowed, “ _Rest_ , Tony. Don’t make me say it again.”

“But-”

“Jim!” Maggie called, and her enforcer rambled into the room, dolled up in tactical gear, a firearm at his side and various other implements of pain around his person, all non-lethal.

“Yes, dear?” Jim asked, but he eyed the two of them with a smile. Bastard found Tony’s pain amusing.

“Get him to bed.” Maggie said, no nonsense. Then she straightened out her pencil skirt and let herself out, probably to go deal with more stuff with the Academy, or commune with Alecto and Megaera. Or both. Probably both.

Jim watched her with hooded eyes as she left. Tony had to admit, she did cut a fine figure in a pencil skirt and a form hugging woman’s blazer. Pity she and Jim weren’t Tony’s type, or he’d have stepped up the seduction a while ago. Tony wasn’t sure he had a type any more.

After the show was over, Jim swung amused eyes towards Tony, “Well, Tony, going to come willingly, or…?” Jim trailed off meaningfully, his arm resting on the _relatively_ painless shock stick in his belt.

Tony glared balefully at the man before he staggered upright with great dignity, and shambled to his room with poise and aplomb.

Jim’s laughter chased him until Tony hit the bed.

Tony slept without dreaming.

* * *

 

“So, apparently, I’m coming over.” Harley Keener said with a shit eating grin.

Tony blinked, his coffee cup pausing its inevitable journey to his mouth, where it would offer up the sacrifice of caffeine to the genius that was his brain.

“It’s too early for me to process this,” Tony said, forcing his coffee cup to resume its journey.

“Some lady called Margaret Lang called and told me she’d booked me tickets on the next plane out and that I’d better be out here because you were going to go down the rabbit hole.” Harley said, his voice completely innocent in that special way that let Tony know he was full of shit.

Tony’s coffee decided to escape via his nose. Tony coughed, hacking up the warm coffee in his sinuses, burning holy retribution for the deaths of all the cups Tony had murdered over his too short life. “Oh my god, no.” Tony groaned, putting the coffee down and burying his head in his arms on the table.

Harley took in his dramatics without comment, probably because he was predisposed towards them just as much as he was, “So I’m already on the jet. It’s actually really nice.”

“Thank you,” Tony muttered from the tabletop.

“Yeah, so, can I see the workshop while I’m there?” Harley had suddenly gone full starry eyed wonder mode. There was no stopping this monster.

“Sure. Why the hell not.”

* * *

 

“Hey! Mr. Stark, I mean Tony! Thanks so much for inviting me to the compound! I just wanted to say that I’m so excited to get to train here, and thank you so much, again, for the money, and the internship, and the excuse, and not ratting me out to my Aunt, and all of it!” Tony’s second cup of the day was halted upon its sacred path when Peter Parker showed up at the door an hour later.

“Pete? What are you doing here?” Tony said very carefully, putting his steaming hot cup of coffee down preemptively.

“FRIDAY called me! She said that some new boss lady decided that you needed more people around today and that she should call me, ‘cause she didn’t know who I was, but Friday knew how to get in touch with me, and let me know to come so that I could train and stay over at the facility for a couple days! I told my aunt that I was getting to work in your lab, and it was time sensitive, and that there were experiments, and that I needed to stay the night to keep an eye on them, but that I would be paid extra for it, so she finally let me go.” Peter rambled.

“Sure,” Tony said after just staring for a moment. “Why not?” Tisiphone had struck again, apparently.

“Hey, actually, can I use your workshop while I’m here? I mean, there was some great data about increasing the tensile strength of my webbing! And, like, FRIDAY said you’d just installed a new fabricator!” Peter paused in his rant, wide eyed, even in the Spider Man suit, “She said it could work **_adamantium_**.”

Tony sighed, gesturing for Peter to follow. Today would be a day of reckoning, apparently.

* * *

 

Harley had landed not long after Peter arrived. Tony wished he could say they were instantly friends. Instead, they had seen one another, and Tony could feel the tension immediately ratchet up to eleven. How was this his **_life_**?

“Alright, kiddies. Play nice while in the workshop,” Tony said after FRIDAY pushed an update to his phone informing him that Donnie was awake. “There’s plenty of room for both of you. Potable smoothies are in sealed containers in the fridge. Do. Not. Drink. Anything from Dummy. Got it?”

Dummy was the only bot in the workshop at the Compound. The other two were at the Tower, acting as babysitters. This was mainly due to the fact that, while Dummy absolutely loved everyone and everything, he was clumsy enough to actually run over Nathaniel if no one was watching.

“Sure Tony,” both of the midgets said at once, which started a new round of glaring intensely as if they had stolen one another’s Pokémon cards. Tony just sighed and power walked to the infirmary.

Rhodey and Vision were already there, waiting for him when he arrived, both of them with a visibly distraught, but obviously looking better, Donnie. “Hey, champ,” Tony said as he strode into the room, projecting confidence and aplomb like it was his birthright, “feeling any better?”

Donnie’s eyes darted to the three heroes in the room before he nodded. He had the caged look on his face that Tony knew well. The kid thought they were going to toss him into prison, or string him up by his feet, or something, Tony knew. If Tony were some slave to the Accords, he might do that, but he was still working on a system where Peter would only be barely registered under them, and able to keep most of his autonomy. Amending the Accords was a process, but it had already started. Quietly.

Hopefully, though, once it was finished, Peter, and Daredevil, and Cage, and Jones would be able to come out of hiding, if they wanted. If they wanted to stay small time and keep out of fighting crime, that was on them, and certainly a possibility. But he knew Peter, and from what he had seen of Daredevil and Cage, they were in the same boat.

But for Donnie, there was a very different set of realities Tony would have to deal with. Donnie knew what it was to be trapped by a system, to be forced into something, to be stretched and twisted. Tony’s crucible had been Afghanistan. Donnie’s had been HYDRA. Tony understood that.

“Give us the room for a bit, guys?” Tony said to Rhodey and Vision, Tony’s eyes meeting Rhodey’s.

Rhodey arched an eyebrow, and Tony nodded. Rhodey sighed, but got up on unsteady mechanical legs to walk – actually fucking walk! Tony was going to make sure the next pair could get him to run – out of the room. Vision, about to speak, closed his mouth, eyes going from Rhodey to him and back before following Rhodey out the door. Vision could be back in the room in a moment, if Tony were in danger, all three of them knew.

Donnie looked shocked that Tony was willing to be alone in a room with him.

Tony sat at his bedside, dressed down in a ratty tank top and jeans, hair unartfully disheveled, and bags under his eyes, “So, kid, what’s up?”

Donnie blinked. He licked his lips and looked down at his hands, “I don’t honestly know why I ended up coming here.”

Tony didn’t bat an eyelid, “You said you needed help. With what?”

Donnie wrung his hands. Calloused hands, Tony noticed, that were cut up with the types of scars you only got from long hours working with metal, “HYDRA. They took me, after I got kicked out of SHIELD.” Fear and anger and a tiny bit of hate meld together on Donnie’s face, “That makes it sound like HYDRA took care of me. I guess they did. They reached into my head, and twisted it so that I’d do whatever they wanted.” Donnie shook his head, his hands beginning to ice over.

Tony reached out and took one of them into his own. Donnie looked up at him, shocked, and Tony could feel the ice starting to spread, and for a brief second, he was back in Siberia, armor dead, the cold closing in around him, and then Tony Stark pushed back against the cold in his own mind, his eyes coming up to meet Donnie’s, “Donnie – Can I call you Donnie? I’m going to call you Donnie – you can’t control what they did to you. It’s easy to blame yourself. You tell yourself that you were too weak. You tell yourself that you’re broken,” Tony’s gripped Donnie’s hand harder, his knuckles turning white, and the kid’s eyes were wide as saucers as they stared into Tony’s, “but it’s not true. Yeah, they fucked your head up. But we’re fucking geniuses, Donnie. Anything they break, we can fix.” Tony’s hands were warm, now, the ice having retreated.

Tears were welling in Donnie’s eyes, “You mean that?”

Tony nodded, not breaking eye contact, “You can stay here, or at the Tower, as long as you want. You want to work on what they did to you? I have some tech that can help you with that. You want to work through it yourself, I’m fine with that too. HYDRA won’t touch you here. I promise you that.”

Donnie’s eyes fluttered closed, “And what about SHIELD?”

Tony’s eyes narrowed in confusion, “SHIELD is gone.”

Donnie licked his lips, his eyes darting down for a moment. When they came back up, Tony saw the diamond hard ice that was Donnie’s will in them, “No. No they’re really not.”

* * *

 

So. Phil Coulson. Alive.

Tony finally let himself process that idea as Donnie, still underweight but stubborn enough to want to look around, decided to wander around the compound. Especially in Tony Stark’s fabled workshop. What was it with all these kids and his workshop? Honestly, who was he, Santa? Were they applying to be his elves?

Tony walked into his workshop with Donnie trailing behind him, and decided to ignore the picture of two workbenches laid out on opposite ends of the workshop, facing one another, with increasingly complex contraptions whose purpose Tony did not want to guess at being assembled without much regard to safety. Donnie, however, appeared entranced, not only by Tony’s own workbench, but by the frenzied hands of the two kids who had found themselves in some sort of feud.

Tony let Donnie explore, and the two munchbabbies ignore him and continue their feud, as he worked through the implications of what Donnie had told him. Tony had already heard plenty about Inhumans cropping up, FRIDAY was keeping records and sorting data all day every day, after all. What concerned Tony was the fact Phil Coulson, Steve Rogers die hard and fanboy, was a potentially loose element when it came to the Accords. Now, Tony was more than willing to turn a blind eye to this new SHIELD, for the time being, but Donnie had a history with them, and Donnie was Tony’s now.

Tony did not like it when people tried to take stuff that belonged to him.

At all.

But Tony supposed that conversation would wait until Phil did something monumentally stupid, which would force Tony and the Avengers to come after him and his team, or Phil came to him in order to ask about Donnie. Phil wasn’t the type to do stupid, but still, it wouldn’t hurt to try and find out what Lazarus was up to.

“FRIDAY, keep an eye out for our Undead Agent, would you? It sounds like he and his team are knee deep in whatever crazy stuff we don’t usually manage to get to.” Tony muttered, still pointedly ignoring the now three-way engineering fest that was his workshop.

“Of course, Boss. Building a search algorithm now.” FRIDAY responded, sounding pleased with herself.

Tony nodded, then his brows furrowed, “Actually, FRI, step up your cyber defenses, too. I’ll get to work on something later, when we have more time, but I want to make sure no one knows where Donnie is. If you get a hint that SHIELD is looking for him, ping me ASAP.”

“Added to the list, Boss. And I look forward to the upgrades,” FRIDAY said, a teasing lilt in her voice. She was such a charmer. Took after him, that way.

Tony wondered who else knew about Phil the Zombie. Fury had known, that Tony was certain of without a doubt. Tony would bet good money that Hill was in on the game, too. The question, then, was Barton, Romanoff, and Rogers. Tony was never sure what to think, when it came to the wonder twins, but he gave them even odds, just the same. As for Rogers, if this most recent spat with him had told Tony anything, it was that he shouldn’t trust Rogers for anything. And if Tony didn’t trust, his default was to assume the worst. Tony wasn’t quite sure what that said about him as a human being.

Tony was pulled out of his thoughts by actual raised voices, no longer contained to the decibel level accepted for geeky banter. “There is no way this would produce enough lift for the whole suit, not by itself!” Donnie was turning a repulsor gauntlet over in his hands. Tony waited for a surge of fear, of worry, of anxiety at other people getting their hands on the suit, especially brains as large as these three were in possession of.

“Except for, you know, the fact that it kind of does? I mean, we’ve seen it do it?” Harley’s snark was audible as he examined a boot jet, taking to it with a screw driver to get to the inner mechanism. Tony had known one of these kids for years, one for weeks, and one for no more than a day. Yet the fear never came.

“Yeah, but he started making the suit out of adamantium-” Peter said, knocking his knuckle against the new and improved adamantium chest piece. Tony had never trusted people with his stuff. Ever. What had changed?

“Wait what?” Harley dropped the boot jet, and Tony cringed. Harley gathered around the chest piece with Peter and Donnie. Maybe it was just because they were kids? Had Laura and Maggie put something in his coffee?

“Yeah, which is why it won’t be able to generate enough lift, like I said, so-” Donnie tried to get back into lecture mode, but this time it was Tony’s turn to interrupt.

“Only the chest plate and other key areas are made from adamantium. If I made the whole suit from it, I _would_ actually need to add more repulsors, but that wouldn’t be the only problem. Guesses why?” Tony had given lectures before, had worked with other minds in the field, but he had never felt quite this comfortable working around people outside of Bruce. But Bruce was gone. Run away, back to the safety of anonymity. Tony missed Bruce. He missed the Hulk just as much.

The three kids blinked up at Tony for a moment before exchanging glances and then frowning with almost identical furrows of concentration. Even Peter, with his suit, looked young when placed beside Harley and Donnie.

“New dude here already pointed out the weight thing,” Harley said, trying to get the ball rolling. Donnie rolled his eyes while Tony rolled his wrist, motioning for the ideas to keep coming.

“Maintenance? It would be harder to get into the guts of the suit if it were all adamantium?” Peter asked. Tony isn’t surprised that point came from him. Peter was out in the field a lot and knew that wear and tear was something that needed to be dealt with.

Donnie frowned, “But he could just use custom screws and bolts to keep the electronics safe. He already does. Why not just make them out of adamantium? Cost isn’t an issue.” Donnie brought up a good point. He seemed to latch onto a problem and tease it to all possible logical conclusions, dissecting it for everything it was worth before discarding it.

Harley tapped on the chest piece, staring through it as he considered the problem, “Pure adamantium can be brittle, though, and it’s still vulnerable to icing at higher elevations. The titanium gold alloy prevents ice buildup, keeping the electronic components in the green. Tony takes a lot of gee forces and sometimes needs to climb up high. Pure adamantium wouldn’t take the hits he would need it to, and would lower his flight ceiling.” Harley knew the armor and its limitations well simply by virtue of the fact he had asked so many questions over the years that Tony had always been willing to answer.

Tony clapped his hands, ending the brainstorming session, “All good answers, and you’re all mostly right. I worked adamantium alloys into most key sections of the armor that wouldn’t put electronics at risk because it’s such a damn good conductor of thermal energy. The rest is gold titanium alloy, for all the reasons Harley mentioned.” Tony leaned against the work bench, gesturing to the pieces that were still going to be kept as titanium gold alloy.

“Donnie was right, though, because those gauntlets are for the older model,” Tony said, gesturing to the gauntlet that Donnie had been holding earlier, “and I’m starting to phase in more adamantium. Reason I don’t do it all at once is because I might need the suit to be ready ASAP, and I don’t want to trouble shoot problems I was never expecting for key systems because they react differently when they’re made of adamantium.”

“As for Peter’s point,” Tony continued, having thoroughly captivated his audience, “I did have to redesign a big chunk of the mechanics and electronics in the torso to accommodate for the fact that different parts needed to be removable due to the restrictions on working with adamantium alloys. It’s a lot less flexible than gold titanium, and some parts of the suit still need give. And repairs would be a bitch. Well, they already are a bitch, they would just be _more_ of a bitch.”

The three of them just stared for a moment, and Tony laughed, “Come, my little chickadees,” Tony turns to lead them to another corner of the workshop, “let’s play with some adamantium. Maybe we’ll come up with a better alloy.”

It was a strange feeling, Tony was forced to decide as they get to work debating the merits of certain combinations and testing metal ratios. But maybe this whole, “responsible adult” thing wasn’t so bad after all.

* * *

 

They spent almost all of Harley’s vacation that way, holing out in a workshop marathon until Megaera and Tisiphone came with their hordes of screaming children to drive the three good workers out into the abominable daylight. And for food and stuff, Tony guessed that’s important so growing kids needed that stuff, but he had been making sure to feed them. And there were cots in the workshop, so they were sleeping. Sometimes.

In a total display of how Tony Stark could do responsible adulting things, though, he had made sure Donnie only ingested smoothies with protein powder. It meant he had glared as Peter and Harley nommed pizza with extreme smugness, but it also prevented him from upchucking pizza all over the workshop, so it was worth it.

Megaera, AKA Laura Barton/Laura Bowman the-totally-legit-identity/Ruiner of Tony’s Life®, seemed content to mostly leave this one to Tisiphone, though. She ordered her brood to chase them out of the workshop, gave Tony one of the most layered glares Tony had ever received outside of Alecto/Pepper, and then promptly took her gaggle of demon babies to play outside in the nice fresh country air they had formerly been accustomed to. Tony would have been concerned if he weren’t so busy keeping an eye on all the things under the age of twenty-five running around the compound.

Harley and Donnie were debating the merits of some of the different alloys of adamantium the four of them had tested, while Peter was still cleaning up and was going to be on his way up shortly. Well, he should have been cleaning up. Instead, Peter came running into the room, shouting, “Ohmygod! Is this thing real! Is this it! I mean, I know I held it before, but, you know, that was just for, like, a second! And this totally feels like the real deal!”

Tony saw with almost perfect clarity what would happen as soon as Peter set the shield down on the table, the sound a very special vibranium-alloy-meets-glass noise that had haunted his dreams since Siberia. Tony also knew that he was about to lose his shit.

That didn’t mean he could stop it.

The second the shield made that sound, Tony jumped backwards, fumbling out of the stool he had been sitting in to discuss things with the kids. He could feel the cold wrapping itself around him, the cold from Siberia, the cold from space. He couldn’t help but stare at the shield has his brain ran though the image of the shield coming down on him again and again.

Tony couldn’t breathe.

He couldn’t think.

He-

Tony felt a body press up against his side. It had been smaller, once upon a time, but the circumstances had been very similar.

Tony closed his eyes, “Hey kid.”

Tony could hear Harley’s soft smile in the words, “Hey, Mr. Mechanic.”

Tony opened his eyes. Donnie was looking down at him from the stool he was still sitting on, a myriad of emotions playing through his eyes, but Tony could feel the empathy rolling off the kid in waves. Peter’s masked eyes were wide, and Tony knew that the face underneath was gaping in apology for doing something the kid had no idea would set him off. Maggie crouched down, hand reaching out to Tony’s, and she squeezed when he took his hand in hers. Paxton was being very manly and was dutifully ignoring everything like it wasn’t happening.

“I’m _so_ **sorry**. Mr. Stark! I didn’t know! I wouldn’t have-” Peter started immediately.

Maggie lifted up a hand towards Peter, and the room fell into silence. “I think you need to go work some things out with the kids.” Maggie pulled out the BARF interface from her purse after she spoke, handing it to Tony. Tony reached out and grabbed it with shaking hands. Part of him wanted to spit at her to mind her own damn business, but the rest of him, the part of him that wanted to keep his head on long enough to watch Harley get into MIT, make sure Peter was safe, make sure Donnie was able to move past what had been done to him, and keep an eye on Cooper, Lila, Nathaniel, and Cassie, knew that this was the best option.

“Fine,” was all Tony said in the end, pulling himself up. “Well, kiddies, I guess you get to see the crazy room.” Tony wondered, as he stood up, if Tisiphone was some sort of miracle worker, in addition to being an evil harpy from hell. Tony did not do sharing. But then again, they had just seen him reduced to a hyperventilating mass of hysteria, so he might as well go the whole nine yards.

Hell, for all Tony knew, they might need to use the room themselves at one point.

“So you had a panic attack?” Peter asked as they stepped into the BARF room.

Tony sighed. He really really did _not_ want to talk about his many issues, but he owed it to the kids to be upfront with what was wrong with him, so he nodded, “I’ve been dealing with baggage since New York. Everything that happened in Siberia just made it worse.”

Harley arched an eyebrow at him and Tony rolled his eyes with a huff, “Okay, so maybe I’ve been dealing with stuff since my dad, and then really dealing with stuff since Afghanistan. And then New York was sort of the ultimate in stuffs. Seriously, everything that happened in Siberia should just be small change, but you know me, self-absorbed drama queen.”

Peter arched a lensed eyebrow, “I love how you keep talking about Siberia like we’re supposed to know what you mean.”

Tony narrowed his eyes at Peter in faux outrage, “Don’t sass back at me, Spider Baby.”

“Baby?” Peter shouted as Tony ignored him.

“I guess I’d better just, uh, show you.” Tony said. “FRIDAY, spin her up.”

FRIDAY was strangely quiet as polygons started rising from the floor and the holographic projectors. Tony put in earbuds as the video started, staring at Rogers’s face as he watched Tony’s parents murdered by his best friend. Tony was an emotional masochist, but he wasn’t going to force himself to watch that video again, if he could help it. But watching Rogers’s face was safe, to an extent. It gave him a chance to try and figure out what Rogers was thinking. He had only done this a couple times, and he had yet to get a grasp on Rogers, yet. But hey, maybe this time would be the charm.

He could feel the kids behind him, watching the video. He knew when Bucky had started his bloody work when he heard Peter shout “Oh my god!” even through the ear plugs.

Tony lost track of time, watching Steve as they started to fight. FRIDAY cut the simulation off automatically, though, when Steve was about to plunge the shield into his chest. From the looks on the faces of the kids, though, they knew what was going to happen. Tony took out his earbuds and just waited.

Donnie swallowed thickly, “So that’s why the adamantium chest plate?”

Tony just nodded.

Harley paused for a moment, then just walked over and wrapped Tony in a hug. Tony froze, his brain sputtering and shutting down. Something else must have taken over, though, because he was wrapping his arms back around Harley. Kid was just as tall as he was now, so he got to bury his face in the kid’s shoulder. After a moment, Tony looked up to see Donnie and Peter doing the awkward shuffle, “Get in here, kids.”

And then they were in his space, squeezing him for all their worth, and Tony just let out a muffled laugh, but he couldn't stop the tears. He wasn't sure why they were falling anymore, because he hadn't felt this happy in a long time.

* * *

 

“I’ll be able to come by more often if I get into MIT,” Harley said, smile wide and eyes bright. “So don’t get into any trouble while I’m gone.”

Peter just scoffs, “Have you seen me? I’m, like, fully and totally equipped to handle trouble! Especially since Tony gave me this awesome new suit! Once we finish those new web shooters, too, it’s going to be totally great!”

Donnie just rolled his eyes at Peter, “I’ll keep an eye on him. Don’t worry about it.” Despite what Donnie may have said, he had decided to move to the Tower, which meant he wouldn’t be out and about fighting the bad guys. He had looked interested in sparring with Peter, though. And, if Donnie had asked about taking a BARF rig with him when he moved into the Tower proper, well, there was a BARF room there, too, so Donnie could work on that. They could talk about how to help deprogram him, later, when Donnie was feeling more confident in himself.

They all hugged it out once more, briefly, and then went their separate ways for the day. Tony knew that Donnie, at least, might be back in the morning to talk more about BARF, but that could wait. What surprised Tony was who was waiting for him when he walked back into the compound.

“What can I help you with, Tisiphone?” Tony asked, the smile on his face feeling like it belonged there.

Maggie gave him a long, very not sexy, once over. Tony felt his spine straighten under her gaze, and god, would it be hard for him to have women in his life who weren’t capable of just dissecting him at a glance? Whatever Maggie saw, though, was apparently good, because she smiled, “Just checking up on you. I was hoping the kids would give you a hand with everything. Turns out I was right.”

Tony arched an eyebrow at her, “What gave you that idea?”

Maggie shrugged her shoulders, “People go the distance for their kids. Scott tried, really hard, at first.” Maggie smiled with the memory, but then her face twisted as if she’d tasted something disgusting, “Until Captain America called. Then he’s off to Germany without so much as a call to tell us he’s about to become an internationally wanted criminal.”

Maggie turned to him, “I never thanked you for that, by the way.”

Tony blinked, “Thanked me for what?”

Maggie shook her head, smiling, “Giving us a second chance. Getting to us before Ross did. Helping us.”

Tony shrugged, “You and Laura got dealt a bad hand. I hadn’t expected Ross to just throw them in the Raft. That wasn’t part of the Accords. I was figuring I could help them out during trial. Probably get them off with house arrest or something if they signed the Accords. Then I could just put them on administrative leave until it was up so they could still draw their checks. Wam. Bam. Done.” Tony sighed, “Obviously, very little in my life ever goes according to plan. Oh well.”

Maggie actually laughed, “That’s life.”

Tony met her gaze for a charged moment and shrugged, “Yeah, I guess it is.”

Maggie snorted and shook her head. Tony walked forwards, towards his workshop. He still had a lot of work to do, for SI, on the armor, for the Accords. “You’re a good man, Tony Stark.” Maggie’s voice was a whisper as he stepped past her.

Tony spun around, but she was already walking out of the room.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Tony has a panic attack when Cap's vibranium shield meets glass and produces a sound similar to that of his arc reactor shattering.


End file.
